The Canadian government will make a $317,000 investment into an institute studying radicalization in video games, weeks after it introduced a bill aimed at countering “hateful conduct” online, which includes platforms that have gaming-related content.
“The research done by the Royal United Services Institute and the Extremism (RUSI) and Gaming Research Network will help strengthen Canada’s resilience, and increase our capacity to identify and prevent radicalization to violence. Supporting initiatives like this is key to keeping Canadians safe,” Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc said
in a press release on March 13.
The project would analyze data from several online platforms to determine how the formation of video game communities has the potential to “create environments conducive to radicalization to violent extremism.” Using a “gender-based analysis,” the study will seek to understand how misogyny can connect “violent extremist ideologies” across different countries and cultures.
The aim of the project is to help ensure the safety of users on the platforms and counter instances of radicalization and “recruitment into violent extremism,” according to the press release.
According to RUSI, the project will conduct a meta-analysis of several popular games like Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Call of Duty, and gaming-adjacent platforms like Discord, Twitch, Reddit, and Steam.
The investment is being made through Public Safety Canada’s Community Resilience Fund, which gives $6.5 million in financial support to organizations attempting to improve Canada’s ability to prevent and counter violent extremism.
On Feb. 26, Ottawa also introduced
Bill C-63, which seeks to amend the Canadian Criminal Code and Canadian Human Rights Act to regulate the internet when it comes to content involving sexual exploitation, bullying, deepfakes, and “hateful conduct.”
The new Online Harms Bill would apply to online platforms such as Twitch, Discord, and Reddit, which contain video game-related content. While private communication would not be covered by the legislation, it would include groups that are made public on social media where a potentially “unlimited number of people” could join.
Video Games in Canada
According to
Statistics Canada data from 2022, 88 percent of men aged 15 to 24 play video games, compared to 56 percent of women in the same age range. Video games are played less frequently by men and women aged 25 to 44 (60 percent and 38 percent, respectively), and men and women aged 45 to 64 (27 percent and 24 percent, respectively).
A Statistics Canada
report from 2023 also found a strong association between online gaming and an increased risk of being cyber-bullied, with 30 percent of youth aged 12 to 17 who said they played video games “frequently” reporting having been cyber-bullied in the past year.
While the RCMP
arrested and charged a young person for terrorism-related offences in December 2023, there is no indication of whether there was a relation to video games. There have been no mass killings in Canada explicitly linked back to violent video games.
The United States Governance Accountability Office
released a report in January that found “violent extremists” use social media and gaming platforms to reach wide audiences, to spread “extremist ideas,” and to recruit others. The report also claims that a mass shooter who killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York, in May 2022 livestreamed his attack on an online platform, “replicating the visual style of a first-person shooter game.”
While one expert in that report said violent extremists may use video games with audiences they believe will be more “receptive” to extremist information, two other experts said games are not frequently used as a recruiting tool because they do not appeal to a wider audience, and it is easier for them to connect with people on messaging platforms instead.
An
October 2023 study of nearly 13,000 gamers across 12 countries, including over 1,000 from Canada, found that 76 percent of Canadians played video games to feel less stressed, while 67 percent said video games helped them feel happier, and 54 percent said they helped them get through difficult times. A total of 51 percent of Canadians said they played games with other people on a weekly basis.
